Tropical
Highlights - February 2016

Sea surface temperatures (SSTs) remained above-average across the central and eastern equatorial
Pacific during February 2016 (Fig. T18, Table T2). The latest
monthly
Niņo indices were +2.0°C for the Niņo 3
region, +2.4°C
for the Niņo 3.4 region, and +0.7°C for the Niņo 1+2 region (Table
T2, Fig. T5). The depth of the oceanic thermocline
(measured by the depth of the 20°C isotherm) also remained above-average across
the eastern equatorial Pacific (Figs. T15, T16), and
the corresponding sub-surface temperatures were 1-5°C above average (Fig. T17).

Also
during February, the low-level westerly wind anomalies were slightly
above-average across the central and eastern equatorial Pacific while upper-level
easterly wind anomalies remained strong in these regions (Table T1, Figs. T20,
T21). Meanwhile, enhanced convection persisted across
the central and east-central equatorial Pacific and suppressed convection was
observed over Indonesia and western equatorial Pacific (Figs. T25, E3). Collectively, these oceanic and
atmospheric anomalies reflect the continuation of a strong El Niņo.

For the
latest status of the ENSO cycle see the ENSO Diagnostic Discussion at:
http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/analysis_monitoring/enso_advisory/index.html